By the Light of the Moon
by the cat and the canary
Summary: Horace muses on memories as he looks at the moon. Horace/Will one-shot, fluff and all that good stuff.


Horace approached the window of Araluen Castle's barracks, intending to close the shutters as his comrades settled into their beds, but the glint of an almost full moon had him leaning on the sill to catch a better look. A semi-subconscious thought flitted through his head and he wondered if Will was seeing the same thing. He smiled at the thought of the young ranger and memories surfaced.

* * *

_It was the night of the__h____arvest moon, and the bonfires blazed brightly in the fields surrounding Redmont fief, celebrating another successful harvest. The moon hung low and huge in the sky, glowing orange as if it were reflecting the light of the fires. A young Will, maybe seven or so, was racing around grown-up legs and the warm fires, clutching two pumpkin pastries he had snatched when Master Chubb wasn't looking as he called for Horace. Horace had eagerly greeted him, accepting his share just as the roar of the kitchen master was heard and the two friends ran, laughing as quietly as the could manage, to hide between two large bales of hay to enjoy their treat._

* * *

_It was a moonless night and some how Horace, now twelve, found himself following Will through the castle and out a window to the roof of a rather rickety looking shed. While the smaller boy seemed to have no qualms nor trouble scampering onto the sagging roof like the squirrels Horace would swear up and down he had to be descended from or at least raised by, the larger boy thought the structure looked decrepit at best and had a clumsy time climbing on to it, attempting to follow Will's encouragement and advice. When he was finally sitting shakily next to his friend, Will had pushed him back and the two lay side by side, staring up in awe at the beautiful expanse of stars spread before them, shinning with a brilliance Horace had never known they had. Here, in an used area of the castle, they shone brightly for once without the glare of a torch or the overwhelming glow of the moon dimming them._

* * *

_Horace was chasing Will through the waves of Seacliff fief, the young ranger laughing and taunting that a "big, clunky armor wearing knight" had no hope of catching anything as elusive as a ranger. Horace figured he was probably right, but continued the chase anyway, laughing as well. He finally slowed, panting slightly when he came upon where Will had flopped on to his back in the sand, wearing a goofy grin as the tiny granules stuck to his wet skin and hair just as the shorts he wore clung wetly to his hips and thighs. Horace huffed out a sigh and flopped back into the sand next to him._

_After a few minutes of companionable silence, Will sat up to look at the moon hanging over the water, its reflection continually distorted by the waves. "Beautiful, isn't it?" he breathed and Horace turned his head slightly to look at his friend, the notion of sitting to look at what he was talking about fleeing with what he saw._

_The ranger's back what mostly covered in sand and his wet hair stuck up and flopped every which way it pleased, but the light from the very moon he was currently captivated by caught on his skin and in the water droplets still clinging to him, creating an effect that could only be called surreal. _Yeah, you are, _popped into his head, but he didn't dare say it. He had been noticing more of these moments every time he and Will met up and every time he nearly came completely unhinged or tripped over his own two traitorously clumsy feet. The unknown emotions that accompanied these instances had honestly scared him, until he had a much appreciated talk with Jenny the last time he had visited Redmont._

_With a jolt he realized Will was staring at him, eyes wide in surprise, and, to his mortification, that he had said the words aloud._

"_Horace—" the ranger started, but the young knight stood quickly, cutting him off with a muttered apology as he strode away from his friend, feeling horrified with himself._

_Will called after him, sounding frustrated, but the other didn't respond. He huffed and grabbed a handful of wet sand, patting it into a ball before chucking it, the sphere striking the knight on the back of his head._

_Flinching at the impact, Horace stopped and hesitated before turning back to face the ranger, not sure what to expect. Will approached him, looking none too happy._

"_You can't just walk away after something like that," he said, brows furrowed as he scowled "You didn't even want to hear what I had to say; you just assumed it was what you didn't want to hear."_

_Horace felt ashamed, finding himself unable to meet Will's eyes and looking down instead. He was right,Horace had just assumed it was something he didn't want to hear, after all what were the chances the ranger would reciprocate any feelings past friendship?_

"_Sorry, Will," the knight muttered, feeling as if he could just sink into the ground. There came a resigned sigh and suddenly there were two slightly calloused, gentle hands on his cheeks. Surprised, he finally looked up from the ground to look into Will's eyes, finding affection there._

"_Next time, just let me finish," the ranger said, his hands moving from Horace's cheeks to the back of his neck in order to pull him down into a kiss._

* * *

Horace smiled at the most recent memory, anxious for his next break so he could visit Seacliff. Suddenly, a boot hit his back with a solid _thump_, disrupting his thoughts, and he turned to find the assailant.

"Shut the damned shutters, 'orace," the young man whose bed was closest to the window muttered. "Plenty 'o time to look out a window like a love lorn maiden when the rest of us ant trying to sleep."

Shaking his head, he did has he had intended before his reverie and closed the shutters before heading for his own bed, falling into it and to dreams of a young ranger laughing and lying in the sand.

* * *

So here is the original of the drabble "Moon" I posted in "Look It Up." I didn't need to do near as much revision as I thought I did. Really, I was just being a wimp...


End file.
